The analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in exhaled human breath is rapidly emerging as a painless, non-invasive alternative to conventional methods of disease diagnosis and metabolite measurement. Breath VOC measurement is also commonly used for monitoring the effects of human exposure to environmental pollutants and drugs.
While hundreds of VOCs have been found in exhaled human breath, many of which originate from blood-air exchange in the lower (i.e. alveolar) area of the lungs, a recent survey by the inventor of more than 1000 published research papers in the field of breath analysis suggests that fewer than 10 percent contain any quantitative data for the chemicals found in exhaled breath samples.
A key advancement in the field of breath analysis has been a full quantitation of VOC results obtained using the analytical technology disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,288,727 to Cormier et al., the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. The technology disclosed in the '727 patent has become known in the art as Laser Infrared Sample Analysis (LISA).
The ability to conduct full quantitation of VOC results with technology such as LISA has facilitated more in-depth and quantifiable research into disease biomarkers.